CROWDS have had to be turned away from a cinema because demand to see the latest blockbuster has gone through the roof.

Jeremy Powell, who owns the Palace Theatre, in Yorkersgate, Malton, said the phones had been ringing off the hook with people wanting to book seats to see the box office hit, Calendar Girls, a British-made film based on a group of Women's Institute members from the Yorkshire Dales.

Mr Powell said that on Monday the cinema was a sell-out for the first time in years and people had to be turned away.

"We sold 120 tickets before we even opened the doors and there were only another 22 available on the door," he said.

"People were very good-natured about having to go away and come back for another showing. Many booked there and then to see the film at a later date."

The film, which stars Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Penelope Wilton, charts the story of members of Rylstone WI, who bared all in a charity calendar to raise money for leukaemia research.

Because of the overwhelming response to the film, Mr Powell hopes to receive permission from Twentieth Century Fox to show it for another week.